


Whiskey, Soda, Rock and Roll

by iiii



Series: Incidents in Transit [8]
Category: Firefly, Supernatural
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-08 01:40:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3191027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iiii/pseuds/iiii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"That is one fine figure of a man."</p><p>"You know he's either a humbug or Satan's vessel in the worldly aspect.”</p><p>"Or plain shatterpated. Still," Zoe tilted her head, the better to ogle, "a fine figure of a man."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whiskey, Soda, Rock and Roll

After the kids were in bed, Dean set the Bible aside and went up to the galley with one of his big bottles of Jack and a deck of cards.  Sam set his iPod to playing a barroom jukebox mix on background volume.  Kaylee whipped up a batch of her daddy's recipe for salty carbo-snacks.

Dean started dealing five card draw. 

*****

"That is one fine figure of a man."

"You know he's either a humbug or Satan's vessel in the worldly aspect.”

"Or plain shatterpated. Still," Zoe tilted her head, the better to ogle, "a fine figure of a man."

Jamie nodded owlishly.  "Your appraisal is well-founded."

"River compurgates them."

"But how well founded should we account her?  She’s, well…"

"She's most often right.  Not always sensical... but right, most often."

“Right.”

Jamie and Zoe regarded Sam from across the room until he caught on and got all embarrassed.

“There is a school of thought,” Jamie said, canting her head back toward Zoe, “that holds dallying with Sam Winchester is suicide.  They say his paramours can’t survive the book they’re written in.  It’s nonsense, of course.  Sarah Blake, Cara Roberts – they knew him and went their way quite hale.”

“So…?”

“So, why are you still talking to me?  Go take your chance.”

*****

They told of hustles gone bad. Marks who'd wised up too fast, or who'd been hustling back and doing it better, and the consequent hurried getaways. Dean found himself expounding on the necessary conditions and proper technique for a bootlegger's turn. Kaylee and Mal capped that with the time they'd done a Crazy Ivan. 

Kaylee produced a modern set of cards and won most of it back.

*****

“Wait, so, none of you recognized Elvis or Aretha or Bohemian-goddamn-Rhapsody,” Dean said, “but you all know all the words to ‘Back in the USSR’?”

“White Album’s on the Exam,” Kaylee said.

“What exam?”

“The Standard Comprehensive Examination,” Simon said. “Victor’s studying for it now.  The Exam.”

The explanation came a bit muddled – the bottle was by then below half-mast – but eventually it was made clear to Dean that the Exam was a sort of combination GED, SAT, and licensing test, offering assessment in most any skill or study.  Anyone who had the fee was welcome to give it a go.  Kids of an age to leave home used their Exam scores to apply for colleges and apprenticeships.  Adults used the certifications to apply for jobs.  The questions on each Exam changed from year to year, but the subject matter varied little.  Astrogation was always plotting a round trip from Lilac to Liann Jiun, finding the fastest route inbound and the most fuel-economical route back out, though the embarkation date was chosen at random.  Twentieth century music was always Enrico Caruso and the White Album.

Dean tried to tell them how very, very wrong those musical choices were, but was drowned out by Mal ranting about the Alliance trying to make their version of events the basis of the history Exam, using a supposedly impartial private service to enforce their hej-, heg-, hege-

“Hegemony,” Zoe cut in.  She turned to Jamie.  “You have had a terrible effect on his language.”

“Yes, ma’am.  Sorry ma’am.”

“Why are you still sober?”  Mal asked.

“I’m on watch at midnight,” Zoe said.

“Oh, yes, so you are.”

Zoe went back to chatting up Sam.

*****

They got on to jailbreaks.  Mal told the time Inara came sweeping in to a police station and graciously allowed the sheriff to persuade her to accept custody of himself and Zoe.  He started to explain about Inara, but Jamie interrupted, avid for details of the Winchesters’ escape from the Green River County Detention Center.  Sam told her that a good magician never revealed his secrets.  She pressed harder, and Dean said it was it was a podunk county lockup and they’d had a guard’s help, how tough did she think it was?  Jamie spluttered at that, and Mal ordered her to her bunk.

After she stomped off, Dean asked Simon about springing River.  Simon said that mostly he’d applied money to the problem, which worked well until he ran out of money.  By then, though, they’d fallen among thieves, so it worked out.  Kaylee leaned in and kissed Simon's cheek. He smiled back at her, the faintly smug look of the well-married man.

*****

At midnight, Zoe disentangled herself from Sam and went forward to relieve Jayne on the bridge.  Kaylee and Simon trailed off to bed in her wake. 

Jayne called dibs on the rest of the whiskey. 

Dean dealt another hand of draw.


End file.
